Are there protests outside Newcastle's ground yet? I'm expecting burning effigies.

Old pals act if ever there was one.

Hughton has been sold down the river big style.

I am gutted. I expect us to be relegated, but we won't even go down in style - we will be relegated playing awful football.

Newcastle must be the hardest club to support in the land.

They have Liverani, one of my favourite players ever. He's class.

Have you seen that Abel Hernandez? He's hardly been prolific there, but I seen him last year and he looked a tidy player for his age. They have a former youth of ours (Kasami his name is, I think), not sure how good he's turned out, he got good reviews in his time here.

FC knocked out 0-4 to Brighton in the replay. Brighton played really well, and their professional fitness told in the end, it might have been more interesting had Cotterill converted his penalty. 7k at Gigg Lane tonight, an absolutely mental atmosphere from start to finish, it's been one hell of a journey this year!

I've never understood why football clubs/chairmen seem to place so much value on experience in a manager, even if it's consistent experience of failure. It's just a constant merry-go-round of the same blokes getting relegated, getting sacked, getting another job at a club in or around a relegation battle, getting relegated again, on and on. Why?

There's probably a reason the same managers keep getting caught up in relegation battles, so to get rid of someone doing well in favour of one of them makes no sense to me.

Two blatant penalties denied tonight. The first one the ref gave the pen but then overturned his decision on advice from the blind **** behind the goal.

But apart from those penalty calls we didn't look like scoring in the entire match. We were dire again. We got lucky when Milles hit the bar, we got lucky when the unmarked Heinze was rightfully flagged offside when he'd just headed home.

The only bright side tonight was Josh Mac who played some sublime balls through, but that's it.

Our next three games are Spurs, Man United and Arsenal. If we play those games like we have the last three then we're getting three hidings and Ancelotti will be an ex-Chelsea manager.

From the picture i saw on BBC site, it looked like Malouda had trodden on a landmine. What's with the shockingly bright alternative kits Chelsea have these days. are they THAT desperate to have attention drawn to them in any way possible?

5 and a half year deal for Pardew







Newcastle fans that had been bigging Ashley up in recent times will be feeling a little silly right now!

Surely this is a wind up!!
I becoming more and more convinced that Ashley actually hates the thought of Newcastle being sucessful, his behaviour is bizzare to say the least.

Joke isn't it



IIRC Allardyce was given 3yrs and booted out after about 6 months. No way will Pardew be there in 2016!!!

In the normal world, a five and a half year deal would make think that his annual salary must be quite low to balance out giving him such a long deal.

In the fairytale land of St James's Park, I'm not so sure......

Pardew only has to keep them up to be more succesful at the club than Shearer.

And not quit when the going gets tough to be better than Keegan

Sounds bizarre, but could be true!

You have to wonder about some of his decisions!

Football really is gripped with this pandemic of financial stupidity. It pays salaries to players and staff way above what it should be doing as a loss making industry. Newcastle are giving a manager sacked by Southampton a 5 and a half year contract? It's absolutely unbelievable. If they had gone after Mourinho or Wenger and been told the only way to secure them was that deal, fair enough. They are proven. But Alan Pardew has a record of destroying as many clubs fortunes as he has helped and was not in demand from any other club. So why the ridiculously long contract?

It smacks of helping a mate out to me. I think Ashley is going to try and sell the club again now, so he's giving his casino buddy a long contract in the knowledge that he'll get a good few million when he is inevitably sacked.

As daft as it sounds, i cannot think of any other reason why Alan Pardew would be good enough to manage Newcastle United. I just cannot work this one out, at all.

That's the biggest issue, the length of contract. Even putting aside the fact that the previous manager should not have been sacked etc why offer such a long deal. The chances are he will be sacked before this contract runs out so he will be in line for a big payoff. Like you say if it is the only way to get the man you want as they are in demand then fair enough but Alan Pardew?? It should have been a 2.5 year deal max.

Seems like one mate helping out another!

Was a great atmosphere. Loved the attendance being announced as "about 7,000 - we're still counting"
Thought FC didn't deserve to lose 4-0 but as you say fitness told and also the expected difference in skill & decision making given the difference in leagues (League 1 v NFP)
Not got the stats but FC seem worse than Spurs at converting penalties.

He made the most of it but both were 100% penaltys.

Poor again last night, something isn't right with Diddi. Bosingwa injured AGAIN

As said the only positive to come out of the game was how good JMc played.

CA needs to win 2 out of the next 3 or he'll be looking for a job. The only problem is who would we get in, Guardiola wouldnt leave Barca imo.

Guardiola's a none starter. He aint leaving Barca unless Mourinho wins the league and CL double for the next two years. Would he come to us? Not with the baggage we've got with our treatment of managers.

Basically, there's a two man shortlist. One of them is managing Real Madrid, he aint coming. That leaves the manager of the Turkish national team.

I'd give Hiddink a 5 year deal with total control of football. Guaranteed no interference with any part of his work.

So Pardew claims other managers have texted him questioning whether he's wise to take on the Newcastle job?

Yeah, because if he'd have waited Chelsea or Man United would have been calling with an offer.

Well, Newcastle are the 5th biggest side in England, so he has the next best thing.

Was a good night. Brighton were class and played with the right attitude as well which was good to see.

FC have now missed their last 6 penalties.

Does Pardew have the right credentials for the job?

There is a very tough questioning process, it goes like this...

Q1. Are you a geordie?

Did he even pass this test? I mean they are in dire need of a geordie messiah, not some half baked non geordie who doesn't understand the immensity of the job.

How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.

How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.